1. Field of the Invention
The invention to be described relates to mechanical seal assemblies which generally comprise a stationary seal ring and a rotatable seal ring, each seal ring having a seal face, with resilient means for urging the rings toward one another. The seal assembly further includes an improved key or anchoring device for securing the stationary seal ring to a housing. Seals of this type are generally classified in Class 277--Joint Packing--Subclass 136.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In mechanical seal assemblies of the type described above, it is common practice to connect the stationary seal ring to a housing by a metal key received in registering keyways in the stationary seal ring and the housing. An example of such an arrangment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,799 granted Dec. 21, 1971, to W. J. Wiese and assigned to the same assignee as this application.
In the typical seal assembly, one of the seal rings is made of a brittle material, such as various carbon-graphite materials which combine the strength, hardness and wear resistance of carbon with the natural lubricity, higher thermal conductivity, dimensional stability and machinability of graphite. The other seal ring is constructed of an even harder, but less brittle material such as tungsten, various ferrous alloys and the like. Most mechanical seals operate with a fluid film between the seal faces; and in the absence of this film, which acts as a lubricant between the relatively rotating faces, the rings can seize, resulting in a breakage of one of the seal rings, usually the ring constructed of the more brittle material.
It should be noted that the prior art also teaches the use of resilient means for coupling two members which rotate together. Examples of such couplings can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,987,042; 3,421,783 and 4,172,678. In the present invention, the resilient material is used to secure a stationary seal ring within an associated housing.